Celebrity NYC Chef Had Sex With Minor, Feds Say

MANHATTAN (CN) – Food Network has severed web ties with a celebrity chef charged with having sex with an underage boy in a Best Buy parking lot. After federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint against Matthew Tivy, 53, on Thursday, cached history of Food Network’s website represent the only trace of the Manhattan chef’s appearances on a program called “Chef du Jour.” Tivy, who owns Café du Soleil, is charged with sexual exploitation of a minor and receipt and distribution of child pornography. The six-page complaint says Tivy met his 14-year-old victim on the popular hookup app Grindr. Tivy and the boy allegedly began exchanging messages on Dec. 28, 2014, and they met up in the Bronx on Dec. 30. Text messages show that Tivy parked on the top floor of a Best Buy parking garage in a black Honda at about 12:41 p.m., according to the complaint. He texted the boy an hour later, saying, “That was really fun!” “Even though you were very bad not to tell me how young you are haha but I don’t mind ;p,” another text message reads, according to the complaint. “I’ve been with a high school guy before so it’s cool.” Tivy also allegedly wrote. The victim presently attends a junior high school in the Bronx, according to the complaint. Prosecutors say he and Tivy exchanged more explicit text messages the next day, discussing having performed oral sex on each other. The victim sent Tivy two videos he shot of their encounter, according to the complaint. Prosecutors say “both videos depict the anal penetration of an African-American male by a Caucasian male.” Tivy thought it bittersweet that the victim didn’t send one video in particular he was looking for, the text messages show. “Probably a good idea since I’m sure it shows my face LOL,” Tivy wrote, according to the complaint. A few days later, Tivy allegedly texted the boy about another rendezvous, saying he wanted to watch the boy have sex with Tivy’s “bottom buddy.” In the spring, Tivy allegedly bragged about his exploits on another social media platform called Kik. “I have one kid that I fucked in my car,” Tivy allegedly wrote another user, before transmitting the video files of the December encounter. “He’s a high school sophomore.” Prosecutors say Tivy has also used Kik to distribute images of “a known New Jersey-based minor victim, which depict his face and genitals.” Tivy wrote about having had oral sex with the boy when he was 14, according to the complaint. The complaint also describes Tivy’s explicit chats with underage teens in Florida and Ohio. Prosecutors say Tivy had yet another social media account for an app called Chaturbate. Tivy’s account name on Chaturbate was “iluvundies,” according to the complaint. Prosecutors say the top charge against Tivy carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The federal charges relate to evidence that investigators claim to have found on Tivy’s cellphone, a Galaxy S5, after his May 6 arrest on a separate incident from March. State court records related to the May 6 arrest say Tivy is due in Manhattan Criminal Court on Nov. 23. The top charge against him in state court alleges a sex act with a victim younger than 17. Though Tivy was awarded bail on the state court charges, U.S. MagistrateJudge Henry Pitman reportedly denied Tivy bail when the federal complaint was unsealed Thursday.